


The Truth About the Universe

by lysanatt



Category: Arts & Sciences RPF, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU/cross-over, Disability, I'm a Stephen Hawking fanperson, IQ before eyecandy, M/M, scientists are hot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-21
Updated: 2007-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 21:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8939905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lysanatt/pseuds/lysanatt
Summary: Waiting for Lucius, Severus runs into a certain Stephen Hawking and Severus comes to realise that beauty might have more incarnations than one, just like universes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> SH's lines about the Enterprise are actual quotes. The man is a mad nerd and fanboy. Can't but love him.

Severus had been waiting for what, to him, seemed like hours. As usual Lucius took his time, or at least his appointment took it. Severus was leaning back in the not very comfortable chair, it was old, battered and the stuffing felt more like a sack of potatoes than a proper cushion. The other people in the lobby were talking, laughing, creating a blur of voices, a fog of uninteresting noises Severus didn't want to listen to. He had closed his eyes, head resting against the wall. He was creating an invisible barrier, not by magic (that would be inappropriate here), but by closing his mind as well as possible to the human interference.

Muggles were even worse than witches and wizards. Even worse to listen to than the most idiotic Gryffindors at Hogwarts. Thank Merlin he had left that school for good so he didn't have to listen to the endless inane chatter of the students any more. Instead he had _this_. Twice a month he accompanied Lucius here, because Lucius wanted him to, and because it was probably a very, very good idea, since an inexplicable amount of Muggles would have been turned into a varied assortment of mammals(for the lucky) or minerals(for the less fortunate), had Severus not been there to prevent it.

Also Severus went because he loved Lucius (even if he wasn't very good at expressing it) and actually didn't want to let him go by himself. And indeed it was a sign of his love that he agreed to endure this. Severus sighed deeply and tried to repress any sound from a conversation between two clearly demented women, regarding whether someone called Hugh Grant had a nice arse and whether he would get back with some female who went by the name of Elizabeth something. Severus felt very, very tired. Couldn't they just all be quiet if they did not have anything clever to say? Why did Muggles have to fill out every blissful pause in a conversation with retarded nonsense?

 

Then a strange, slow, monotone voice reached Severus' ears, odd enough to catch his attention.

'When matter and anti-matter meet up, they disappear in a burst of radiation. You know that. If this was beamed out of the back of a spaceship, it could drive it forward,' the strange voice said.

'But matter/anti-matter annihilation favoured to warp drive? Is that wise, Stephen?' a woman's voice said. 'Enterprise D could travel at warp 9.8 at extreme risk, while normal maximum operating speed was warp 9.6 and maximum rated cruise was warp 9.2.'

'And we have not yet taken into consideration the fact that ability to travel in ten dimensions instead of four flat... if we consider the highly curved straightened out...'

 

Severus opened his eyes.

Across him a young woman, apparently a nurse or student, sat gesticulating, while she discussed something that could very well have been nonsense, but wasn't, with a thin man in a large wheelchair. The couple were talking about something that seemed to be a Muggle telly show, but in between, Severus caught things that without any doubt were about magic and science, about how things moved in dimensions and about how the world had been created. Magic. Only he had never heard it described like that before.

There was no doubt in his mind this man was a Muggle, otherwise he'd have heard of him, it was abundantly clear to Severus, even within minutes, that the Muggle had an intellect far exceeding anything, anyone, he had ever met. Maybe even his own, which he doubted, but didn't reject as a possibility. He leaned slightly forward to be able to hear better. The strange synthesized voice was slightly disturbing, and Severus wished he had been able to listen to the man's real voice. He wondered where the Muggles had put it, or if this was the Muggles' best approximation to the Sonorus spell.

Severus listened while the two Muggles - obviously scientists - discussed something they called Worm-holes and Chronology Protection Conjecture. He was utterly fascinated, there was actually something Muggles had discovered that was applicable to wizarding theories? The more Severus listened, the more he became lost in the strange, ugly man in the wheelchair. There was something in his eyes... a deep knowledge, a fire that burned hotly for what he spoke about, a fire seen all too rarely in both Muggles and wizards alike.

The man wasn't pretty, but Severus didn't care about that. He was lost in the beauty of the man's mind, in the universe he created with words he hadn't spoken, but only thought. No one had ever made Severus feel inferior when it came to the power of the mind, but this man... a common Muggle... Everything about him was intriguing, the theories he spoke of, his way of thinking, his arguments; even the frail, thin body held a fragile, strange beauty in itself, in the midst of the decay of disease.

Then the Muggle turned his eyes away from the woman and looked directly at Severus.

For a second Severus couldn't breathe. He acknowledged beauty in all its incarnations and, maybe because the Muggle couldn't prevent it, Severus fell into this perfect mind as their eyes locked.

Severus had only once before seen such beauty. The Muggle's mind held universes, so many different ones, and it was hard to move inside the mind, it curved, folded, just as the universe the Muggle discussed. And everything was lit up by the enlightenment the man carried inside. Somehow Severus felt he was close to the explanation of _everything_ , carried around in the man's amazing mind. And Severus _understood_. If he mingled his understanding of the universe with this man's, he would understand. That he was certain of.

Reluctantly Severus pulled away as not to ravage the Muggle's brain. As he looked into the man's eyes as their connection broke, he saw a flash of wonderment, of... reciprocation of the attraction Severus had felt, of recognition. Acknowledgement. For a moment everything fell silent around Severus. Had this been another time, another place, another universe, he might have acted upon the flicker of... something, but he could not. Would not. But the beauty of this man was breathtaking.

'Mr Snape,' a voice called, disturbing them. 'Mr Malfoy is ready now.'

Slowly Severus rose, and an appreciative smile curled on his lips. He let the Muggle see the attraction he had felt, written clearly in his eyes. The Muggle didn't speak or move, but he understood. Oh, he understood.

Severus walked the few steps to greet his lover, bending down to kiss him. 'I hope it wasn't too hard on you, love,' he whispered as he pushed Lucius' wheelchair a bit so he could kneel down beside it. 'But the Muggles do know one or two things about physiotherapy that wizards don't.'

Lucius didn't reply. His ruined vocal cords rarely allowed him to speak, but a weak hand sliding over Severus' cheek was all the answer he needed. Severus smiled at his lover, looking into his eyes, and knew that this was the only universe he needed. His world, his Lucius. No matter what had happened to Lucius in the final battle, Severus' love was unwavering. He had always been stubborn that way. Beauty had indeed many incarnations, but nothing had ever been more beautiful to Severus than Lucius.

Severus rose, and once more his eyes met the Muggle's intense gaze. Severus could see a smile in them.

 

Maybe the Muggle had seen the truth about the universe in Severus' eyes as well.


End file.
